Field of the Invention
Various embodiments of the present invention described herein generally relate to item dispensers, and, in particular, to item dispensers configured to accept a cart having items stored therein and selectively grant access to at least a portion of the items stored in the cart.
Description of Related Art
Item dispensers are frequently used to dispense a variety of items, such as food products, toiletries, and other goods to various users. In the healthcare industry, dispensers are often placed in hospitals and used to distribute linens, surgical scrubs, and other healthcare items to members of a hospital's staff. These dispensers can be configured to store such items on shelves disposed within the dispenser, or on moveable carts that can be wheeled into an interior portion of a dispenser. To prevent access to the stored items, the dispensers may include a lockable access door that can be opened by an authorized user.
In various existing dispensers, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,718 entitled “Garment dispensing and receiving apparatus having a removable cart body and a flexible dispensing door,” filed Sep. 19, 2002, authorized users may be granted access to a subset of items stored within a dispenser that are each stored within individual receptacles in the dispenser. Moreover, certain dispensers include various cart guide mechanisms for guiding a cart into an enclosure, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,874,562 entitled “Guides and other apparatus for inserting a cart, such as a cart with one or more fixed wheels, into an enclosure,” filed Jul. 16, 2007 and claiming priority to application Ser. No. 11/744,387 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,628,410), filed May 4, 2007.
However, there is an ongoing need in the art for secure dispensers that enable an authorized user to more easily access stored items while minimizing the initial assembly cost of the dispensers and maximizing security against unauthorized access to the stored items. Furthermore, in view of increasing efforts to reduce operational cost, there is also a need for dispensers that are easy to use, more reliable and that can be manufactured at a lower cost.